


Counting Stars

by brokenblades13



Category: Video Blogging RPF, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Cute, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ethan takes care of Mark, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Memento mori, Sad, Slow Romance, Unus Annus, cute fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:28:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenblades13/pseuds/brokenblades13
Summary: It started with headaches.Mark was editing a video for his channel when he felt like his head was splitting open. For a moment, there were spots in his visions, and the light from his computer seemed to only add to it. He just chalked it up to a migraine, called it a night and went to sleep on the couch, with a cold compress resting over his eyes.When he woke up, the headache was gone, and everything felt normal.But was it really?
Relationships: Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor
Comments: 1
Kudos: 66





	1. Headaches

It started with headaches. 

Mark was editing a video for his channel when he felt like his head was splitting open. For a moment, there were spots in his visions, and the light from his computer seemed to only add to it. He just chalked it up to a migraine, called it a night and went to sleep on the couch, with a cold compress resting over his eyes. 

When he woke up, the headache was gone, and everything felt normal. He smiled at Chica, got up to let her out after giving her morning pets. He stretched, made himself something to eat, and scrolled through the notifications on his phone. It was funny to see the stuff that all his fans were tagging him in, some just absolutely crazy and outlandish, but for the most part, made his day so much better. 

He had decided that day that he would have Ethan and Tyler over for a collab. He quickly sent a quick text to them both and hoped they would say yes. When he got confirmation that Ethan will swing by and pick up Tyler for some collab time, he began to get ready, taking a quick shower. As he got ready, the headache came back., not as bad as the night before but still constant and pounding, a lot like the night before. He brushed out his floof, brushed his teeth, and decided against wearing his contacts today, knowing the headache wouldn’t get any better any time soon. He grabbed some Tylenol off the shelf, popped a few into his mouth, and swigged down some water, hoping that did something.  
He ignored it, hoping it would go away, wanting to get things done today since he had given up editing the night before for the same reason. He only hoped to get through the rest of the day

Mark heard a loud knock, followed by Tyler asking why the hell Ethan didn’t use the doorbell, and it caused Mark to laugh as he was heading to the door. He excitedly opened the door to two of his best friends, and they gave him quick hugs, heading into the house.

“So, what’s the plan today, Markimoo?” Ethan joked, fixing his glasses on his face. Ethan’s sweet face was medicine anyways and always made Mark smile, mainly because of how adorably Ethan did everything. Mark never minded that Ethan would joke with him in that way, and actually would encourage it.

But the moment that he couldn’t tell the features of the younger boys' face was the moment that Mark realized the headache was reaching the same peak it did last night.

Mark wiped his eyes, and pushed his glasses up, hoping that the pain would ease just a little that his friend’s face wouldn’t be a blur. 

“I was thinking of some sort of challenge video. Or maybe a card game of some sort? I don’t know, I just w-wa-” he stopped and doubled over, the words failing to come out for a second. He was holding his head, taking his glasses off with one hand, the other pushing the palm of his hand into his eye so he could stand back up with some relief. “I wanted to do a collab.”

Tyler stepped forward and touched his arm, the gesture sweet and enduring while Ethan grabbed his shoulder, trying to get him to focus on them both. 

“Mark, what’s wrong?” Ethan asked, voice dripping with concern.

“Just a headache, no-nothing wrong. I had one last n-night. It’s just a mi-migraine,” Mark grimaced, trying to stand up tall again. 

Mark tried to smile, he always thought that smiling and laughing would aid him through most things and this was more of a comfort for his friends than himself. But fate being cruel, he couldn’t hide it from them and before he could speak again, Mark was crumbling to the floor, Tyler and Ethan slowing him before he hit the ground too harshly. Ethan and Tyler watched as Mark began to seize, his body convulsing and twitching as his muscles contracted. Ethan quickly jumped into action, sitting down next to him and pushing him up onto his side, trying to keep his head steady. He had only seen a couple of seizures in his lifetime, but he knew that the best thing was to make sure their airway was clear, and they couldn’t injure their head. Tyler immediately dialed 911 and waited for the ambulance to come, placing Chica outside as calmly as he could, but inside he was panicking too.

It started with headaches. Just a migraine that wouldn’t go away. How wrong Mark was.


	2. Scarred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark wakes from the seizure and gets ready for an MRI/CT

Mark opened his eyes slowly. Cautiously. Everything hurt and he had only a vague memory on what had happened. He remembered having a headache, feeling the pain as it coursed from the back of his head to the front and all the way back again, but he couldn’t remember much of anything after. He could hear a dull hum of electricity and his eyes focused slightly to see white lights over his head. Then he noticed another two sounds. The sound of beeping, soft, in the background, and he noticed it matched with how his breathing and heart rate reacted. And the sound of soft sniffling. The sniffling he knew was from someone, he could feel something holding his hand, and he figured it was another hand. He tried to move his head but it felt stiff, his eyes finally landing on a heart monitor and Ethan, who had his head down on the bed next to Mark’s leg, his hand in Marks, and his small frame softly shuddering every once in a while, meaning he was crying. 

Mark attempted to move his fingers, and he managed to give Ethan’s hand a good squeeze, which made the younger start and look up at him. 

“Mark! You’re awake!”

Mark closed his eyes halfway, trying to get himself to the point where he could talk, but nothing would come out when he would open his mouth. He felt like he had lost control of his body, and he hated it.

Ethan stood, pressed the nurse call button on Mark’s bed, and moved closer so that he can see Mark’s face better. “Mark, it’s okay. You don’t have to talk. I will explain to you in a minute what happened.” And Ethan was interrupted by the nurse over the speaker on the button before he could continue. 

“Yes, dear, what do you need?”

Ethan paused what he was saying, and answered her, “He’s awake.”

“Okay, we will send the doctor in a few. Try to get him to stay awake by talking to him, please.”

Ethan looked back at Mark, a small ghost of a smile on his lips as he wiped his face with his free hand. “I will explain to you everything that happened, okay?”

Mark squeezed his hand in response and Ethan nodded, smiling softly. “Thank you. That can be your yes, and if you don’t want to respond, don’t squeeze and we will call it good in a couple of seconds. Okay?” 

Another squeeze.

“Okay. So, um. You invited us over for a collab, remember that?” Another squeeze. “Good, well, you were talking and then you doubled over in pain, saying you had a headache. You said it was just a migraine. Do you remember that?” Another squeeze. “Good. Well, after that, you just crumbled…. And you started seizing. You had a Grand Mal Seizure, Mark…”

Mark’s eyes opened wide, and Ethan gave a small sigh, reaching up to move Mark’s hair from his face. “I know it’s scary, but you’ll be okay. I was just so worried about you. They said you may have some sort of infection because your white blood cell count was a little low that might have caused a fever-induced seizure. They wanted to do a CT scan and all of that, but they wanted you to be awake for it.”

Mark squeezed his hand, and Ethan smiled, wiping at his own face again, hoping that he would stop crying at some point. Mark’s eyes shifted when the door to his room opened, and Mark found it difficult and painful to move his head to follow the person in. 

It was a male, who was dressed very nicely, nametag stating Dr. David Turner. He moved towards Mark and smiled when he saw him looking at him. 

“Aw, good Mr. Fischbach, you are awake. I’m sure Mr. Nestor here has been attempting to fill you in. Can you move your head or any of your fingers for me?”

He looked down to see Mark moving his fingers, and he watched him squeeze Ethan’s hand as well.   
“Can you try to move your head now for me?”

Mark made a noise of pain when he finally was able to turn his head to look at the doctor, his neck feeling stiff as hell. Dr. Turner just nodded, seeming to make a small flashlight appear out of nowhere. He moved towards Mark, slowly opened his eyes with his fingers, and quickly flashed his eyes to see for dilation. 

“You are very lucky to have friends who knew what to do in the case of a seizure, Mr. Fischbach. If it wasn’t for Mr. Nestor stabling your head, you could have really injured your spinal cord the way that you had fallen to the floor.”

Mark squeezed Ethan’s hand, and the heart monitor jumped up in rate, showing that the news scared Mark. 

Dr. Turner smiled softly, resting a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “It’s a fine, young man. You didn’t suffer any damage to your spinal cord on the base level. We can see that you are moving everything fine, it’s probably just very painful to do so. It may be a bit before you can talk as well. It’s a very tiring thing to do so after a Grand Mal.” 

The doctor moved to the other side of the room, writing something on the board with all of his information on it. “We are going to take you down for CT and MRI soon. I want you to try to keep your eyes open as long as you can bare, even though you are probably very exhausted. Okay?”

Mark just squeezed Ethan’s hand, and Ethan nodded for him, them both watching the doctor leave with one final wave. Ethan looked behind him, grabbed his chair, and pulled it closer so he can sit back down next to the bed. They sat in silence, Ethan mindlessly stroking his thumb over the back of Mark’s hand, comforting both of the men, Ethan with his fidgeting needs and Mark just on the sheer relaxing nature of it. After about ten minutes, Ethan spoke up.

“Oh, and Tyler is at your house still. He’s trying to make sure Chica’s okay, and then he was going to switch out with me depending on how long you are staying here. If it’s for a while, I will just bring Chica over to my house and she can be with Spencer for a bit.”

Mark squeezed his hand gently, his eyes fixated on Ethan for the remainder of the time, waiting for the nurse to take him to the CT scan or the MRI. Ethan was staring at the door then at Mark, noticing that Mark was staring at him. 

“You alright?” Squeeze. “You sure?” Squeeze. “You Lying?” Squeeze.

Ethan laughed, shaking his head. “You will be fine, Mark. I’m positive about it. Nothing to worry about.”

Mark moved his head slightly and a groan escaped which came out choked and gargle-like. The door opened and Ethan stood again. 

A young, peppy nurse came in and stated she was coming to take Mark down to do an MRI. Ethan turned to Mark, pushed his hair from his face and Mark squeezed his hand again. 

“E-e-eth,” was all that Mark could get out, and Ethan smiled, slowly letting go of Mark’s hands and hugging him quickly. 

“You will be fine, Mark. I will be here when they are done. Don’t worry.”

Mark looked over at the nurse, who cheerily moved to unlatch his bed, and began to make her way out the door with him. Ethan starred, watching the older man and wondering what he was so afraid of. He knew Mark hated the hospital settings in general, but this was for a good reason, and he hoped that Mark would be okay. He just wanted Mark to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is really just a bulk up and filler chapter. I wanted to make sure it didn't just skip through important parts of "relationship" development between Ethan and Mark.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't kill me for a short first chapter. I am planning on making a second chapter and posting tonight as well. I have had this idea rolling around my head for some time and I wanted to write it out. I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
